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| Afghanistan |
| Ex-Taliban Minister Seized in Afghanistan |
| 2003-04-18 |
| Afghan agents arrested former Taliban leader Moulawi [Maulvi] Qalamuddin several days ago in the Baraki Barak district of Logar province, east of Kabul, said a senior intelligence official. Qalamuddin served under the Taliban regime as deputy head of the Vice and Virtue Ministry and as deputy minister of mosques and Hajj. When the Taliban government fell in 2001, Qalamuddin was head of the National Olympic Committee. Best prospects: the Howling team was favored for at least a bronze, and the Teeth-gnashing team was a shoo-in for the gold... Under the Taliban, the powerful Vice and Virtue Ministry deployed some 32,000 enforcers around the country who harassed women if their head-to-toe burqa veils did not cover all. They also harassed men if their beards did not meet the length required under the Taliban's version of Islam. Vice and Virtue squads also forced shopkeepers to close during prayer time, and raided shops looking for videotape movies. They enforced Taliban bans on girls' schools, television, card-playing, kite-flying and women's public baths. At times, they carted off offenders to their own ministry jails. ... where they sometimes whipped them with battery cables. On Thursday, state TV called on all people who had serious complaints against Qalamuddin to report to the intelligence directorate in Kabul. "Hey, y'all! We're havin' a party, down to the cottonwood stand!" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |